The troubled St. Louis-area Normandy School District will be lapsed and continue to operate as the Normandy Schools Collaborative, the state Board of Education voted today.

The new system will be run by a Joint GoverningĀ Board appointed by the state Board that will run the Collaborative beginning July 1, replacing the elected Normandy School Board. All existing contracts with school faculty and others will be terminated effective June 30 when the district lapses.

The new Collaborative will cover the geographic area of the District. It will remain unaccredited, as the Normandy School District has been since January of 2013. That means students could continue to transfer to better schools. The state Board would have to take a separate action to change the accreditation status of the new Collaborative.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education says it recommended the changes based on community input and a report from the Normandy Transition Task Force, established in March to develop a plan for the district.

Board President Peter Herschend called the decision, “the only feasible way to have schools operating in the district next year.”

Board members say they want significant academic improvements in the Normandy district. It believes these changes will allow for significant change in the education offered to the approximately 4,000 children in that district.

The Department will work with the Normandy superintendent and others to develop a calendar, schedule, budget and staffing plan for the 2014-15 school year.